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Teacher Professional Day

Lesson 6 Vocabulary Quiz and Writing Lesson

Students took the Lesson 6 vocabulary quiz. When everyone was finished, I presented a slide show lesson on avoiding repetitive diction in writing.
Homework: Read through Chapter 19 of Red Sky at Morning by Monday; essay outline will be due next Wednesday

Wednesday, October 29

Criteria for a Good Relationship
To prepare for writing their Marcia-Victoria comparative analysis, students brainstormed criteria for a good romantic relationship, such as trust, commitment, physical attraction, etc. We discussed the criteria for most of the period, and then I presented how the criteria will fit into the structure of a feature analysis.
Homework: Read through Chapter 19 of Red Sky at Morning by Monday; essay outline will be due next Wednesday

Vocabulary and Red Sky Climax

I handed back Red Sky at Morning quizzes, and included three words for Thursday's Greek Lesson 6 vocabulary quiz: neoplasm, polydactyly, and osteoarthritis. Then we discussed the turning point of Josh's coming of age, and students wrote a short response to it that they handed in at the end of the period: In a well-organized paragraph or two, discuss the turning point in Josh Arnold's coming of age. Use textual support in the form of short, integrated quotations.
Homework: Read through Chapter 19 by Monday

Monday, October 27, 2014

I discussed grades and returned graded assignments. We discussed the Vocabulary Exam over Lessons 1-5, and I explained my grade adjustments to the original raw scores. I shared my data and item analyses with both classes, and we went over problems and misunderstandings about the exam.

Vocabulary Exam: Lessons 1-5

Students took the vocabulary exam today. Students who missed class today may make up the exam during the Monday class period.
Homework: Read Chapter 10 of Red Sky at Morning by Monday

Star Reading Test

Today students took the Star Reading Test, so we can get some data on our students' reading skills.
Homework: No reading assignment for tonight, but students should study their Greed roots, look over their vocabulary notebooks, and use the Lesson V Review Words list to prepare for tomorrow's exam.

Morphology Lesson

Today I defined and we discussed morphology, the branch of linguistics that addresses the meanings of words. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in a language. The Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes that students have been learning are all morphemes. Students did an exercise to get them to think more about pieces of language.

Essay Feedback and Red Sky at Morning

Students handed in their verb packets, eight worksheets that were due today. I reminded students that the Bradbury essay and sentence portfolio are requirements for each student's writing portfolio. I gave students more feedback on the Bradbury essay: how MLA handles numbers, why idiomatic expressions and vague language don't tend to advance an argument, and why one shouldn't conflate intelligence with knowledge. I handed back the Red Sky quiz from yesterday, ranted at students who need to read the book, and we discussed the latest chapters.
Homework: Read Chapter 8

Red Sky Quiz and Verb Practice Exercise and Packet

I reminded students who missed Friday's class to hand in their vocabulary notebook and take the quiz. I handed back graded notebooks. The vocabulary exam will be on Friday; I handed out a list of study words. I will test students on root meanings, words, and multiple choice sentence fill-ins. I handed back the Red Sky at Morning reading quiz from last week (Ch. 2-4), and tested students on their reading for today, Chapters 5-6. Students worked on a verb practice worksheet, which we reviewed, then worked on assembling their verb packets, which are due tomorrow. Students may come in during my office hours tomorrow for missing worksheets.
Handout: Exam word list; Verb Practice Worksheet
Homework: Read Chapter 7 of Red Sky at Morning; Assemble Verb Packet & hand in tomorrow

Lesson 4 Quiz and Red Sky Character List

Students handed in their Decomposition Books, took their Lesson 4 quiz, and wrote annotated lists of characters from Red Sky at Morning.

Red Sky at Morning: Stranger in a Strange Land

We discussed Chapters 2-4 of Red Sky at Morning,

Vocabulary Notebook and Reading Time

I explained a few things about grading the Bradbury essays. I am handing them back as I finish grading them, with brief individual conferences before and after class. For each essay I have written ample notes both on the rubric and the essay for students to understand areas of strength and weakness in their writing. Students may substantially revise their essays for a higher grade, but I need them by the end of the semester. I wrote examples of the MLA date format on the board, and briefly discussed the judicious use of indefinite pronouns such as some, all, many, each, several, and few. We finished reviewing the Verb Types worksheet, and students--some of them, anyway--used the rest of the period to read Red Sky at Morning and find derivatives for their vocabulary notebooks.
Homework: Red Sky: Read through Chapter 4 by tomorrow. Expect a reading quiz.

Red Sky at Morning and Verb Types Review

We discussed Chapter 1 of Red Sky at Morning; it's important to get a clear snapshot of Josh's snarky personality at the onset of this coming of age story. Students should read two chapters per night, and be prepared to take a short reading quiz the following day in class. Reading quizzes may only be made up by students with excused absences. Next we reviewed verb types and discussed the verb types worksheet.
Homework: Red Sky: Chapters 2-3

MLA Essay Format; Begin Red Sky at Morning

I posted some incorrectly and correctly formatted essays on the board to show students what MLA format looks like, since I saw so many variations in the Fahrenheit 451 essays I'm grading. I also instructed students about serif versus sans serif fonts (MLA requires a serif font because it shows greater contrast with italics), using italics for book titles, and placing the header and page number inside the margin of the document. Students signed out copies of Richard Bradford's Red Sky at Morning and began reading Chapter One. We discussed our snarky narrator/protagonist, Josh Arnold, and his sarcastic internal comments about everyone at his dinner table.
Homework: Red Sky: Read Chapter 1

Verb Types: Lesson and Practice

We began with an exercise about classifying verbs according to their complements. Students worked alone, then shared with a partner. I gave a lesson on the three verb types and the basic sentence patterns they determine. Then students worked on a practice worksheet.

Tuesday through Thursday Classes

Tuesday: Verb Tenses
While Mr. Archibeque took over my classes, students worked on a reading on verb tenses with two sets of exercises.

Wednesday: Vocabulary Work Day
During the short period, students worked on finding derivatives for their vocabulary notebooks. Some students worked on their Sentence Portfolios (they should be complete now).

Thursday: Verb Tense Review
We reviewed verb phrases and verb tenses with the worksheets; some students are having trouble understanding the need for future perfect tense. For example, the modal auxiliary shall is only used in first person verb phrases. Students worked on another verb tense worksheet.